A fat Lebanese man emerges from a room behind the cash register holding an AK-47 as though it were a full cup of coffee. ?Four fifty,? he says, sucking on a toothpick. ?American. And if you want help getting it across the border, that can be arranged.? His storefront is about the size of a walk-in closet, barely large enough for the five shoppers here today, and made to feel even more cramped by the half-dozen targets hanging from the ceiling. ?Four hundred,? I counter. ?Four twenty-five,? he replies. ?Four hundred,? I repeat, feigning confidence and experience. ?Four fifteen is absolutely as low as I will go,? he grumbles, ?but I will give you the first 15 bullets for free.? Here, just inside Paraguay, close to where that country ends and Argentina and Brazil begin, is Ciudad del Este?most famous for its markets, both illicit and legal, which I?m shopping my way through with startling ease. Machines guns aren?t the only thing for sale here, of course. With markets that contribute an estimated 30 percent of Paraguay?s $9 billion gross domestic product, it?s the sort of place where anything can be had?even 200 kilos of Paraguayan Brown, the local marijuana?provided you?re willing to pay. A man tows a cart loaded with cardboard boxes at the entrance of Ciudad del Este. The downtown market is dense and compact, a maze of concrete spanning a five-block-by-five-block square. Despite its size, the market is extraordinary for its diversi ...
Anytime
A fat Lebanese man emerges from a room behind the cash register holding an AK-47 as though it were a full cup of coffee. ?Four fifty,? he says, sucking on a toothpick. ?American. And if you want help getting it across the border, that can be arranged.? His storefront is about the size of a walk-in closet, barely large enough for the five shoppers here today, and made to feel even more cramped by the half-dozen targets hanging from the ceiling. ?Four hundred,? I counter. ?Four twenty-five,? he replies. ?Four hundred,? I repeat, feigning confidence and experience. ?Four fifteen is absolutely as low as I will go,? he grumbles, ?but I will give you the first 15 bullets for free.? Here, just inside Paraguay, close to where that country ends and Argentina and Brazil begin, is Ciudad del Este?most famous for its markets, both illicit and legal, which I?m shopping my way through with startling ease. Machines guns aren?t the only thing for sale here, of course. With markets that contribute an estimated 30 percent of Paraguay?s $9 billion gross domestic product, it?s the sort of place where anything can be had?even 200 kilos of Paraguayan Brown, the local marijuana?provided you?re willing to pay. A man tows a cart loaded with cardboard boxes at the entrance of Ciudad del Este. The downtown market is dense and compact, a maze of concrete spanning a five-block-by-five-block square. Despite its size, the market is extraordinary for its diversi ...